White Bean Chicken Chili

Growing up, my mom made this delicious white chili. I introduced my family to it and they were in love! Its easy to throw together, filling and great for a family with lots of oinkers hungry kids. I'm listing the larger version, but you can half the recipe if you only need to feed a few.

Ingredients

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 cans great northern beans
2 cans chicken broth
2 tablespoons chopped green chilis
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese (use pepper jack for an extra spice)

1. Place chicken in the crockpot, add beans, broth, chilis and spices.

2. About 30 minutes before serving, mix 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch with 1/2 cup of cold water. Pour into soup and stir. This will thicken the chili up a bit.

3. A few minutes before serving shred chicken (if it needs it) and add cheese. Serve piping hot!

Scrap Fabric Matching Activity

We have bags of clothes left over from when we did storage auctions. We have sold most of the nice ones, and what we have left over is mostly holey, stained clothes. I have lots of projects with scrap fabric to come up with! I saw a picture on pinterest that inspired this project. There was no link, so I came up with my own version.

 

You will need scrap fabric or old clothes, felt, spray adhesive and fabric scissors.

Cut out squares of fabric. You can make two squares from each pattern if you are making a memory match type game or cut out lots of squares from each pattern if you are doing an organizing type activity.

 

These are actully an old pair of sharpie colored pants from my youngest. All handme downs stop with her, she is so rough on her clothes! Make sure you are cutting squares a bit bigger than you need, you will trim them down later.

As a side note, little ones love playing with the fabric scraps. Its a great QUIET activity.

 

You should end up with a stack of squares similar to this.

 

Next cut your felt the size you want your squares to be. The younger the child the bigger they should be.

 

Lay down a newspaper or plastic bag, lay the felt on top and spray one side with the adhesive. Be careful, you only need a very light coat. You don't want it too wet. Next lay the felt (side with the adhesive) on top of the fabric square and press. Set aside to dry and repeat with the rest of the squares.

When the squares are dry, trim the fabric so it matches up with the felt.

Ta-da!

 

*While I used spray adhesive for this project, next time I will probably try a glue gun. The spray adhesive was pretty strong smelling, and it kind of lingered on the squares. If you have kids sensitive to chemicals definitely use a glue gun.

The Laughing Jar

This is my "Laughing Jar." Just a simple mason jar. Throughout the year I write down things that have made me laugh, like funny things the girls have said, or funny things that have happened. I usually write it on a post-it but any little piece of paper will work. Fold it up and put it in the jar. At the end of the year I take the papers out, we read them and laugh and laugh! At the end of the year when we are ready to start over, I also take all the funny things about the girls, type them up on a sheet of paper and stick them in the girl's file. I'll probably put them in a scrapbook at some point.

Another idea we plan on doing, starting January is the "Thankful Jar." Over the year you write down things you are thankful for and read them at Thanksgiving.

Chocolate chip peppermint cookies

Here is another peppermint and chocolate recipe. I just can't get enough of these Andes peppermine crunch baking pieces. Sooo good! I'm going to have to buy a few more bags before Christmas time is over, because they are only sold this time of year.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
1 bag milk chocolate chips (I used about 3/4 bag)
1 bag Andes peppermint crunch chips (also used 3/4 bag)

1. Mix flour, soda and salt. Set aside.

 

2. With a mixer, beat together sugars, vanilla, and butter until smooth. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Gradually add flour followed by chocolate and peppermint chips.

 

3. Spread flour on a surface and divide batter into fourths. Roll into a log and wrap in plastic wrap. Refridgerate until firm.

 

4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Slice logs into discs and place on baking sheet. Bake 5 min, rotate baking sheet and bake 5 min more. Let cool 10 minutes before transfering to cooling rack.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I made this delicious pound cake for our Thanksgiving dessert. You can eat it as is or dress it up a bit by adding a drizzle of chocolate or serving with strawberries and whip cream.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of butter, softened
1 8oz. package of cream cheese, softened
3 cups of sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all pupose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Beat butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add in sugar, beating well.

2. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

 

3. Sift 3 cups of flour in a seperate bowl. Add in salt. Add flour into butter mixture a half cup at a time, beating on low. Add vanilla.

Should look similar to this, at this point.

 

4. Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. To grease and flour a pan, I've found the easiest way is to rub a stick of butter all over the inside. Then sprinkle a small handful of flour around the inside turning to coat. Turn upside down and tap on the counter or sink to remove excess.

 

 



5. Smooth out the batter so it is even. Bake at 300 for 1 hour 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 10-15 min in the pan then transfer to wire cooling rack and cool completely.

Savory Split Pea Soup

Split pea soup is either something you really love or really hate. I happen to really love it, and its cheap to make so I double love it! I have to admit its not the prettiest meal I've ever seen, but it sure is yummy.

 

Ingredients

Bag of dried split peas

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

2-3 carrots

Ham hock or Bacon (I used a handful of bacon ends and pieces from a $7 pack I had. Buying the ends and pieces is cheaper than buying the regular packs of bacon and lasts forever.)

salt and pepper to taste

 

1. Rinse and drain peas and add to crockpot. Heat olive oil in a pan and sautee the onion and garlic. Add to crockpot.

 

2. Add in the broth, meat, carrots and salt and pepper, stir well.

 

 

 

 3. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours. Stir before serving.

 

 

Ok definitely not the prettiest but its delicious!

 

 



Balsamic Chicken Pasta with Roasted Asparagus

Mmm this recipe was delicious! I made a whole chicken in the crockpot and used half of it for this recipe. The rest I saved for chicken and dumplings tomorrow. The whole chicken was only $4 and I was able to stretch it into two meals. Thats some smart saving right there! Here is the link to my recipe for a whole chicken in the crockpot.

Balsamic Pasta

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons balsamic vinager

1 tsp. brown sugar

1/3 stick of butter

1 lb penne or rotini pasta

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

 

 

1. Boil noodles in a big pot and add a pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil. When noodles are tender desired tenderness, drain and transfer to bowl. Add butter.

 

2. While noodles are boiling, simmer the balsamic vinager in a small saucepan until 3 tablespoons remain. Simmering the vinager mellows and thickens it. Add to pasta and stir well.

 

 

 

3. Add in chicken and parmesan cheese, stir. Serve with Roasted Asparagus (see below).

 

 

Roasted Asparagus

 

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil for easy cleanup. Cut the tough ends off the asparagus.

 

Spread on cookie sheet, drizzle in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I like to add thin slices of Roasted Garlic. Bake until tops are crispy and the stalks are soft (about 10-15 min)